Digitising colour results with natific

In the fast-paced textiles industry, businesses increasingly rely on digitalisation to make their supply chains more efficient. Although fashion thrives on the thrill of colour, colour development often remains a tedious process. With smart software solutions and professional services, the Swiss-based company natific helps customers digitise their colour results, shorten development cycles by four to six weeks, improve colour quality – and make sure colour stays thrilling.

“As part of Global Sourcing, our Colour team manages the colour approval process. In the past, the management consisted of a manual process of emails, spreadsheets, and data re-entry across disconnected systems. In partnering with natific, we have a centralised and integrated colour management solution to communicate with our suppliers and internal cross-functional partners. The efficiency gains allowed the business to scale up product offerings to our customers, meaning increased colour development, with no increase in headcount and no decrease in colour quality,” explained Carol T. Revels, Sr. Manager of Colour & Fabric Operations at Lands’ End in Dodgeville, WI.

Improved communication

“Working with natific systems and certifications has improved our communication with suppliers, reduced time spent on tedious tasks, reduced our reliance on email communication, improved our historical record keeping, and standardised our submit and approval documentation,” commented Marielle Newman, Colour Analytics Manager at Under Armour in Baltimore, MD. The fashion industry is increasingly digitalising product development, thereby shortening lead times and reducing costs long‐term. But it often neglects the colour development process along the way, and that can be a critical mistake.

“The traditional colour approval process is quite laborious. Time gained from other digital efficiencies is quickly lost – and unforeseeable colour differences between original samples and production are a common occurrence. Digitalisation means more than just defining a digital Pantone or CSI standard for a supplier,” said Christoph Bergmann, responsible for Sales/Marketing and Senior Partner at natific.

“With our software and our years of dye house know‐how, the textiles industry gets precisely the colours it specifies, avoiding compromises caused by lack of time. This is also the message we’ve embodied in our slogan: Let’s make your colour right.”

natific ColourWarehouse

In order to provide customers with a platform for monitoring colour production in real‐time, natific developed its ColourWarehouse. This industry‐first B2B software solution is designed to ensure high precision and reproducible colour results for both brands and suppliers.

All colour data from the supply chain are transferred to a cloud‐based system for central information management. In addition, there are fewer surprises when colours are off‐shade or show metamerism. Dye houses self‐approve colours when they are within tolerance.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) can be benchmarked across different mills, services tracked and monitored, and quality issues minimised. Development cycles are shortened by an average of four to six weeks while colour quality is elevated. Beyond production monitoring functionalities, the system enables strategic supply chain management. Solid indicators help identify key performers and facilitate decision-making that supports supply chain optimisation.

ASAP – analysis tool for generation 2.0 colour managers

Another innovative product from natific AG is ASAP, a B2B platform for digital and physical colour development that helps brands and affiliated suppliers efficiently achieve the greatest possible colour accuracy.

Based on a brand’s colour standards, the system tracks key indicators for digital and physical colour matching as well as for evaluating a supplier’s quality and delivery performance. This is designed to give retailers and brands reliable information about whether and by when suppliers can execute a desired colourway, print or pattern. Suppliers, on the other hand, can optimise their dye formulas and reduce or completely eliminate lengthy lab dipping processes by using digital colour approvals.

Fully integrated for precise colour results

In contrast to traditional platforms that solely provide digital colour data to suppliers, ASAP works by enabling a two‐way interactive exchange between brands and their suppliers, the company reports. The platform’s ability to seamlessly integrate into existing IT infrastructures, such as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), is designed to ensure smooth communication. Traditional data management based on the exchange of emails and Excel sheets can be eliminated.